[Dixielandjazz] Re: Bix Biderbecke Copycats

[Charlie Hooks]

on 7/22/03 2:46 PM, HotJazzSync933 at aol.com at HotJazzSync933 at aol.com wrote:

> They make a wrinkly face and try to squeak out notes as if they are putting
> heart and soul into it. You tend to find a lot of this at The Cajun in NYC.
> Not 
> to mention everywhere that Dixieland is played. Maybe someone will comeback
> and revive trumpet. This cornet bullshit makes me sick!

Hey, Don, I love your post!  While you clearly know damn near nothing about
trad jazz (and probably less about any jazz), I love your attitude and sheer
balls!  Because of it (the "hey screw you guys, I'm saying what I think
here" attitude) I think you just might be a jazz player some day!  That's
what we do.  That's how jazz players all think, if they must.

Meanwhile, let me explain: cornets are 2/3 cone and 1/3 cylinder, and
because of that they (normally) have a less piercing, more conical, more
"kind of spread out'" sound and feel to them; and that's what the intermural
counterpoint of trad or dixieland jazz needs--an ensemble, not a solo.

Trumpets, on the other hand, have a much more cylindrical sound: they are
2/3 cylinder and only 1/3 cone.  They pierce through.   They are
me-and-me-only horns and screw the ensemble: let-'em-overblow-me-if-they-can
kind of horns.

Yet let me yell out quickly: cornet players can make trumpet sounds,
trumpets make cornet sounds should they so desire.  In the end, it is what
the individual  player can play and chooses to play that makes the
difference.  I can say things like: trumpets praise and clense: cornets
surround and have soul--but it all depends, ultimately, on the player.

In the end it all, always, depends on the player.

You say:  "If Bix was alive he would have hated to see these guys
practically try to re-incarnate his sound" and I think you're correct: he
would either have split his sides laughing, or he would have shaken his
head--ooh, my lord: what has my legacy come to!?"!  [grammatically you
should have written: "If Bix were alive..."]

Summary: Hey, Don Rogan:   Keep listening.  And keep yelling at people you
think are full of it.   With that attitude, you may make a jazz player yet!

Charlie the curmudgeon.





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